Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) infects more than 400 million people in the world and is the leading cause of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and other liver disease. It has been a major health issue in many countries. Although the current HBV vaccine can prevent new HBV infections, there is no effective treatment for chronic HBV carriers, many of whom will eventually develop various liver disorders and HCC.
Studies have shown that one of the key pathogenic and oncogenic proteins encoded by HBV is the 17-kDa HBV x protein (HBx). HBx is a multi-functional HBV protein that has shown to be crucial for HBV infection and pathogenesis and a contributing cause of hepatocyte carcinogenesis. As appropriately implied by its name, HBx is an enigmatic protein that can bind to a vast number of proteins in various in vitro systems. Unfortunately, the exact host targets and mechanisms of action of HBx are poorly characterized. In fact, to date it has been a major challenge to identify cellular targets of HBx and its mechanisms of action. Because of HBx's role in HBV infection and pathogenesis, it is believed that identification of specific cellular targets of HBx will provide important therapeutic potential in treating chronic HBV carriers.
Accordingly, there is a need to identify cellular target(s) or ligand(s) of HBx. In addition, there is a need for treating HBV infection by targeting cellular target(s) of HBx.